Tuesday, 19 June 2012

Parliament today [Tuesday the 19th of June 2012] started the debate on the committee stages of the Mixed Ownership Bill, better known as the selling off of State assets, or the family silver.

But some parties were missing, for example the Act Party, United Future Party and the Maori Party. Where was; Peter Dunne [UF] John Banks [AP] and Pita Sharples, Tariana Turia and Te Ururoa Flavell [MP].

They were no-where to be seen, were they all down with the flu, stuck in the traffic, snowed in, or were they sitting out back waiting for instructions from John Key and or Bill English because they too kept away from the debate. Have they all gone fishing or on a holiday to Hawaii, or to visit the Queen or are they simply scared of debate.

One can accept that John Backs wouldn’t appear because he has been hiding ever since his run in with Kim Dotcom months ago.

One could understand why Peter Dunne stayed hidden because his electorate would strip him bare and even give him a hair cut because his electorate doesn’t want the asset sales to process and his sole vote is allowing asset sales to proceed.

The Maori Party members profess to be against the bill, but they have used their votes to allow to the government to win closure motions and therefore shut down debate.

They do vote against the bill but only when they know it won’t make a difference. They won’t stand up and argue for what they are against, this is shameful and they should be ashamed of themselves, the issue is more important than their ministerial salaries and BMWs. How can the voters have faith in them when they zip up their mouths and hide? That is not the Maori way especially when almost all their supporters are against the bill and have said so publicly.